Blackened Days
by DizmiusArtistius
Summary: Sequel to "Second To Go" Harry's summer at Sirius' house. (see i knew you'd go "wuh?" if you hadn't read STG)
1. Painted Walls

Blackened Days.  
  
A/n- okay this is the sequel to Second to Go, basically you wont understand much of this if you haven't read STG. Brief overview- Sirius is free, Fudge is dead (yay), harry is living w/ Si & Ed, uuhm.... not easy to explain ten chapters in three lines you know!  
  
Anyway- onward with the fic...  
  
****  
  
  
Hary woke up on he first day of his summer holidays in a medium sized room with light streaming through the un-curtained windows. He heard a loud thud, and a distinct female voice shouting at someone. Groggily reaching for his glasses he peered out of the window into the garden where there were boxes upon boxes of things. Sirius was sitting on one of the top boxes laughing like an idiot. Seeing Harry, he waved.  
  
"C'mon." Sirius called out, "Gotta get some stuff into this place before it rains."  
  
Harry grinned, watching Sirius drop the boxes near Edea with his wand. He pulled on some trainers and headed down into the garden.   
  
"Sleep okay?" Edea asked, delving into some of the boxes.  
  
"Yeah, it was nice." Harry yawned, "Can i help?"  
  
"Tell the grinning fool on top of the boxes to stop dropping them everywhere. Especially on me."  
  
"Uhm Sirius." Harry looked up as Sirius hovered a rather bulging box over him, Sirius gave him an innocent look.  
  
"Severus came round way too early this morning to dump all this stuff in the back garden." Edea told him.  
  
"Why did Snape have your stuff?" Harry asked.  
  
"He let me use some of the space in his mansion to store this rubbish." Edea shrugged, "He owed me a favour."  
  
"Smarmy git." Sirius grimaced, jumping down. "Right, you and me are heading out to get stuff for your room. Eds, Moony's coming over later from the shack when he wakes up, he'll probably help you sort this stuff out if you're not finished by then."  
***  
  
  
Sirius threw Harry a helmet, as he climbed onto the motorbike behind him. "Therotically.. I'm not supposed to fly this thing..." Sirius grinned, "But oh well.."  
  
After about half an hour, the bike landed outside a large store called "Floobert's Fantastical Furniture Warehouse."  
  
"He invented Floo powder." Sirius looked up at the waving picture of Mr. Floobert. "I am forever indebted to that guy."  
  
"This place is huge." Harry looked up at the insides of the building, little house elves were running round like maniacs carrying big boxes and pushing trolleys.  
  
One little elf came up to them and spoke in a tiny squeaky voice, "Good morning Sirs, can i be of service to you this morning?"  
  
Harry looked up at his godfather who just raised an eyebrow, "Go on... Tell her what you want."  
  
"i er.. don't know."  
  
Sirius frowned, was it possible that the Dursleys had never given him a situation like this before? "Harry, really, whatever you want. But i think you should start with paint, don't you?"  
  
"Yeah, that might help..." Harry grinned, then said to the elf. "Paint section."  
  
"This way sirs. What colour is you liking?"  
  
"Blue." Harry said definitely.  
***  
  
  
The doorbell rang just as Edea was floating near the ceiling, trying to hang a lampshade.  
  
"Edea?" Remus' voice carried from the kitchen  
  
"I'm up here." Edea waved from the ceiling.  
  
"How long have you been stuck to the ceiling for?" He asked, running a hand through his soaking hair.  
  
"Half hour, more or less, i painted it with that stuff they use to charm the Hogwarts Great Hall ceiling with... in about an hour it'll turn see through."  
  
"Where did you get that stuff?" Remus picked up a can of what looked like clear paint.  
  
"There were a few spare cans in Filch's office. I asked Dumbledore..." Edea floated back down to the floor.  
  
"Overalls really suit you." Remus grinned, "That whole homely look."  
  
"Do you like it?"  
  
"It's very cosy, i thought Sirius and Harry were helping."  
  
Edea raised an eyebrow, "I don't think it's Sirius' style. They disappeared to find stuff for Harry's room."  
  
"Don't spoil him too harshly, he's not used to it." Remus conjured up two cups of tea, handing one to Edea.   
  
"Like James and Lily would never spoil him." Edea raised an eyebrow. "The Dursleys dont have it in their hearts to be nice to their nephew, and now its not their problem anymore."  
  
"Don't tell me you're plotting something..."  
  
"Oh, no." Edea shook her head, "I don't plot, but thats not stopping Sirius from doing anything."  
  
"Oh.. as-usual... dear." Remus frowned.  
  
They didn't see the off-white rat that scampered across the windowsill, it ran steadily out of Hogsmeade towards the nearest big city.  
  
  
  
A/n sorry its short, i just needed a sort of intoduction... if u see what i mean.  
i think we might get karaoke in here somewhere... and a few drunk people... hehehehe.  



	2. Minko and Tinko

Blackened Days.  
  
A/n- okay this is the sequel to Second to Go, basically you wont understand much of this if you haven't read STG. Brief overview- Sirius is free, Fudge is dead (yay), harry is living w/ Si & Ed, uuhm.... not easy to explain ten chapters in three lines you know!  
  
  
  
****  
  
  
  
Sirius set down the last few packages on Harry's bed. Edea had locked herself in her attic study, and Remus was talking to their new house elf.  
  
"Well, where do you want to start?" Sirius pointed at the boxes, "The paint will paint itself, the shelevs with put themselves up, there actually isnt anything you need to do, other than point your wand at the box."  
  
"Where'd Edea go?" Hary frowned  
  
"Up to her muggle-system-central room." Sirius shrugged, "She's got this passion for everything muggle. And she's in there all the time when she has a bit of time to waste."  
  
"Like Ron's dad?"  
  
"Not really, she doesn't collect things, otherwise the garden would be full of cars, believe me."  
  
Harry laughed, remembering Ron's dad's obsession with plugs and batteries.  
  
"Having fun?" Remus walked into the room. "You got a good little elf there,"  
  
"We have house elves?" Harry's eyes widened.  
  
"Only two." Sirius answered, "Minko and Tinko... or something."  
  
"Don't tell Hermione, for hell's sake." Harry shuddered, remembering S.P.E.W.  
  
"They're pretty good, keep themselves hidden and everything. Moony just likes talking to them, don't you?"  
  
"They can be very interesting." Remus nodded, defending himself from the inevitable pounding of laughter from Sirius.  
  
"I wouldn't call them interesting... more... odd." Harry immediately thought of Dobby.  
  
"Well i guess if you've no been brought up with elves they do seem slightly strange." Remus agreed.  
  
"Did my parents have them too?" Harry asked cautiously  
  
Sirius frowned thoughtfully, "I can't remember seeing any, but then again if you don't see them that means either they're doing their job properly, or there are none."  
  
"They did." Remus countered.  
  
"Don't tell me, you talked to them.." Sirius cracked up again.  
  
"Well..." Remus blushed slightly.  
***  
  
  
  
Ludo Bagman moved his things into Fudge's old office, one witch was busy scraping off Fudge's name from the door, and another was placing Bagman's quidditch trophies on the cabinet shelf.  
  
"Isn't this just.... grand!" Bagman clapped his hands in delight. "Well, theres going to be a little less pompousness and a little more *FUN* around here."  
  
A few of the aurors outside the door rolled their eyes as Bagman started to hum the Wimbourne Wasps theme tune.  
  
"This.... IDIOT has to be the worst failure the ministry has ever appointed." Mad-Eye Moody growled at Xanthe Langlay.  
  
"Oh i dont know..." Xanthe smiled weakly, "He's quite charming."  
  
"Charming he may be, but he won't get the job done."  
***  
  
  
  
Edea laughed, throwing the Daily Prophet to Sirius who was eating breakfast the next day, "Lok who they've appointed..."  
  
"Bagman as Minister." Sirius read the headlines, "Oh well... it'll mean more emphasis on magical sports i suppose."  
  
"Wasn't he a death eater?" Harry looked up from the note he was writing to Hermione.  
  
"You got it." Edea nodded, "He charmed his way round the jury very successfully, and i guess he charmed his way into the Minister Of Magic's job too."  
  
"You're working for him... oh this is... rich," Sirius giggled.  
  
"Sirius? was that a giggle i heard?" Remus picked up a piece of toast.  
  
"Uh, no. of course not." Sirius smirked. "If i see auror training has suddenly taken aboard a quidditch team, i'll cheer you on Eds."  
  
"What, and get my face smashed in by a bludger, nooo thank you." Edea rolled her eyes. "I am never, i repeat- never picking up a bat and swinging it in mid-air again."  
  
"You played Quidditch?" Harry asked with interest.  
  
"We did. Let me give you a team listing..." Sirius smiled, "seeker was james naturally, beaters - Eds and me, chasers were the Dimble triplets, and the keeper was Arthur Weasley, well until he graduated, then we managed to get Mooney on the team."  
  
"Don't remind me." Remus groaned. "I'm really not the sporty type..."  
  
"RUBBISH!" Sirius sprayed toast crumbs everywhere. "You were great."  
  
"You had the best broom!" Edea grinned, "No one else had a Nimbus 1500."  
  
"Apart from Snape." Remus added.   
  
"That doesn't count." Sirius waved his mug, "We hexed it too much so it went slower than a shooting star."  
  
"Very true." Edea smiled, "Not that we'd admit to cheating..."  
  
"It wasn't cheating, it was... decreasing the variables." Sirius said thoughtfully.  
  
Harry attached a note to Hedwig's leg, and there was a flurry of white as Hedwig flew out of the window.  
  
"Decreasing the variables my ass." Edea grumbled  
  
Remus coughed and looked in Harry's direction, Edea went slightly pink, mumbling soething that sounded very much like 'bugger off'.  
***  
  
  
"m...Master?" Wormtail entered the dark room, the windows veiled with black velvet.  
  
"Wormtail.. did you succeed?"  
  
"Y..Yes Master... I have located the boy."  
  
"Good." Voldemort sounded pleased, if such a thing was possible. "We shall be patient and wait for the full moon. It should lower their support. The wolf will scupper their plans."  
  
"Such... amazing ideas my lord... truly amazing." Wormtail bent down to kiss Voldemorts robes.  
***  
  
  
"Right." Sirius said matter of factly, once Remus and Harry had disappeared out into Hogsmeade.  
"You're going to show me how i can get plane tickets on this internetty thing."  
  
"Okay." Edea sat down, connecting her computer to the internet, "You see this thing?" She pointed with the mouse, "You write in what you want to find, and it'll come up with answers, so we write say... New York." The screen flashed up with answers. "See, then you just pick airports, and a time, and you get the tickets when you appear at the flight info desks."  
  
"Where the hell did you learn all this?" Sirius said amazedly as she typed in a few more destinations.  
  
"I had a good ten years to find something to occupy myself. Aurors weren't in a great demand after Voldemort's defeat was finished with." Edea looked up at Sirius. "I had time to live in a muggle town just like a muggle would. I took classes, did things muggles were so fond of, met other muggles with the same interests. I even went as far as to set up a business."  
  
"What kind, magical?"  
  
"Nah, there was this appointment in the job section of the paper for a radio broadcaster assistant. So i took that, learnt what there was to it, but it got a bit boring, so with all the new music groups needing management and recording studios i set up 'StarDuCruet Records'."  
  
"You? Set up a record company??" Sirius sounded amazed. "That's so not your style."  
  
"Actually i quite liked it, it earned me a fortune."  
  
"Hence the nice car." Sirius put two and two together.   
  
"Exactly." Edea looked at the screen, "Anyway, Harry's birthday, where were you thinking of taking him?"  
  
"Somewhere exotic. Caribbean or somewhere. Jamaica."  
  
"Jamaica." Edea nodded, "You go there as a fugitive?"  
  
"Indeed." Sirius grinned. "I needed somewhere completely the opposite of Azkaban, they don't have any windows there, just slits in the wall, you couldn't really see much of the sea, or anything else, but you could see the stars. Funny that. I didn't stay long in Jamaica, i kept seeing the same stars. Well obviously, you can't change the stars. But it reminded me of that hellhole."  
  
"You know, they have the Quidditch championships in Australia this year." Edea noted with interest that Sirius' eyes brightened up at that.  
  
"Okay, we're going there. Make it so we see the finals."  
  
"The finals are on August the second." Edea tapped in. "So we could go say... on July the twenty ninth and leave around the fourth of august. Uhm... we'll have to change flights... okay. we are go."  
  
"Class." Sirius grinned wider, "Don't tell him, okay? We've got to get notes out to the Weasleys and Hermione's parents, do they even take owl post?? Is there a full moon then?"  
  
Edea who was very used to Sirius's quick fire questioning answered them in one breath. "Okay, you write them, yes they do, and no."  
***  
TBC 


	3. Morsmordre

Blackened Days.  
  
A/n- i'm skipping forward a bit...  
  
  
  
****  
IN Australia.....  
  
"And its GILLMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" The commentator shouted out above the crowd's cheering. "GILMORE HAS THE SNITCH! AUSTRALIAN DINGOES WIN BY 250 POINTS,"  
  
Harry was cheering along with the rest of the crowd, Hermione and Ron were standing up waving their little flags, Sirius was whistling and for some reason Edea was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Remus.  
  
After the game, Sirius turned suddenly, and scanned the crowd, "Where's Eds and Moony?"  
  
Harry looked round, "I thought they were behind me..."  
  
Sirius frowned, "That's not like them, but they know where we're staying so i guess i can't really hound them."  
  
"Nice choice of words." Ron grinned.  
  
"Ron." Hermione said patronisingly.  
  
"Oh wait." Sirius suddenly grinned, "You see that huge marquee over there?" He pointed at a large white tent where a lot of noise was coming out of... "That's where they'll be, believe me... Does anybody have a camera?"  
  
"No, why?" Asked Harry  
  
"This moment, is going to be extremely funny, and also very rare. Its only happened twice in the history of Remus' life. You have just got to keep this image."  
  
"CAn i smell beer?" Hermione wrinkled her nose.  
  
"No, its just you." Ron said sacastically.  
  
They made their way into the tent, and soon found Edea and Remus in a corner laughing like idiots. "Paadfut old friend... *hic*." Remus swayed uncertainly towards Sirius. Hermione looked shocked, she'd never ever imagined Professor Lupin could get drunk..  
  
"Eds, how long did that take you?" Sirius asked with glee  
  
"Two pints and a shot of vodka." Edea laughed. "Poor guy. It was his idea. Said he needed a drink."  
  
"And yourself?"   
  
"Not drunk... yet." Edea raised an eyebrow.   
  
"That sounds promising." Sirius smiled, pointing his wand at Remus "Sobrio su."  
  
Remus looked up with a jolt. "Hi guys." he said quietly. "Remind me not to take Edea's advice."  
  
"Sirius!" Edea looked thundestruck. "What did you do that for? I was convincing him to do karaoke."  
  
"WHAT?" Remus shouted. "I. Dont. Sing."  
  
"Thats not what i remember... but then again... it was our very last day at Hogwarts.." Sirius smiled innocently.  
  
"Sirius, your big mouth defeats you every time." Remus sighed.  
***  
  
  
  
Hermione and Ron were sitting out on the balcony when Fawkes, the phoenix belonging to Dumbledore flew in bearing a message.  
  
"Sirius?" Ron called out. "You've got a note."  
  
Sirius came out dressed in a towel and took the note from the bird. "Eds," He swallowed, "You er.. might want to read this."  
  
Edea came onto the balcony with her coffee and upon reading the note let her mug fall to the floor. It shattered.  
  
"Whats' wrong?" Harry asked after a moment. Edea handed him the note which he read out.  
  
"Dear Miss DuCruet and Mr. Black, I'm sorry to have to interrupt your holidays to tell you that in the early hours of this morning, your house was burnt to the ground by death eaters. We were alerted by the neighboring community who saw the dark Mark hovering over your cottage. I need to talk to you the moment you return. Voldemort is recruiting an army, and may plan to attack at any time. Be careful how you travel, Professor Dumbledore."  
  
The group looked up at Edea who had gone deathly white. "Eds?" Sirius shook her, "How did he know?"  
  
Edea didn't answer, she looked awful. "He's going to kill us." She finally whispered. "Hes going to kill every single one of us."  
  
"No Eds, don't look at it like that." Sirius said almost pleadingly. "It wont happen." The look on his face told everyone that he agreed with Edea, whatever he said.  
  
"We have to get back now." Remus said forcefully. "Do you know how to apparate?"  
  
Harry nodded curtly, but Hermione and Ron shook their heads. "We'll create a portkey." Sirius said. "Everybody meet in here, in FIVE minutes."  
***  
  
They had had a string of portkeys that took them back to Hogwarts. One portkey alone could not travel across the world. By the time the group had appeared in the great hall, a large crowd had already gathered. The Weasleys ran to greet their son. The Grangers looked slightly out of place but Hermione was glad to see them anyway. Standing up at the head table was Dumbledore, addressing the crowd. Instead of the usual Hogwarts banners that Harry was accustomed to seeing on the walls, a large banner hung in the centre. It was a black piece of silk with a fiery orange phoenix in the centre. "Order of the Phoenix." He muttered.  
  
"DuCruet?" Snape called out, "You're wanted up at head table. Something to do with ranks."  
  
"Great." Edea sighed heading up to where Moody was now talking to Dumbledore.  
  
"Edea." Dumbledore sighed, "You got the news?"  
  
"The house was nothing. I'm so glad noone was inside." Edea waved it away.  
  
"Not the house. It happened a few minutes before you came in, Voldemort is heading to Azkaban with his Death Eaters, he wants to re-open it. He WILL reopen it if we do not act fast." Moody said impatiently. "Bagman disappeared. No trace of the coward."  
  
"Who's in charge?" Edea asked Dumbledore, who just looked at her pointedly.   
  
"You are." He finally said.  
  
"Oh." Edea looked lost. "Oh... right.... well..."  
  
"Came as a bit of a shock?" Moody almost laughed,  
  
"Why am I..."  
  
"Group descision, you don't have a say in it. It was decided when you left for Hogwarts in September." Moody shrugged. "You'll do us proud, you always do."  
  
"So i have to have a plan?"  
  
"That's the general idea." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled.  
  
"Can i have a minute to think of one?" Edea pleaded.  
  
"Of course." Dumbledore led Moody away.  
***  
  
Edea jumped up onto the head's table earning a few dirty looks from the teachers. "Can i have your attention please?" She shouted, silencing the crowd. "Good. Right, so i guess you all know why we're here. Some idiot called Voldemort." Edea rolled her eyes. "Now listen to me, this is my idea, if it goes wrong you can blame me, i dont care. But you have to do as i ask."  
  
Sirius looked up at her, "She doesn't look very happy." He murmured to Harry.  
  
"I thought she was used to this," Harry asked  
  
"No, not this sort of leadership. It was never her thing. She was the logistics, but never the leader." Sirius let out a laugh. "She's usually not that good at speaking at a crowd either. Used to be such a shy little thing."  
  
Edea was still talking. "I've been assigned to lead this whole shenanigan, and we're going to do things my way. He's got his army of evil creatures and Dementors and of course the Death Eaters. What have we got? We have ourselves. Its fair to say we're at a severe disadvantage. We're aiming for one person here, Voldemort. We take out the leader and the others will be lost, right?" She saw heads nodding so carried on. "This is what we have to do. Everyone in this hall is able to fight, and if not fight then help out with wounded. I want you each to come up with your strength from these catergories: Flying, Unforgivables, Charmwork, Hexing, Diversionary tactics and hand to hand combat."  
  
She let the crowd talk to each other deciding what they were best at.  
  
"I dunno," Harry mumbled, "I guess its flying..."  
  
Sirius nodded, "I have to agree with you there, i'm a flyer."  
  
Hermione was thinking quietly, then said- "i wonder what diversionary tactics includes..."  
  
"Dont go there." Sirius said slowly. "Thats' what the aurors do. They stand at the front and blast general holes in the ground."  
  
"Oh." hermione thought about this. "I suppose i'm a charms person then."  
  
"Me too." Ron added, "I'm not really in any group, but i dont want to be alone."  
  
"Remus?" Sirius asked his friend. "What's it to be?"  
  
"Hexing." Remus stated, staring up at the ceiling. "Thank god its not a full moon."  
***  
  
  
TBC 


	4. What does it take?

Blackened Days -4-  
  
If you dont like the idea of death and destruction, i suggest you skim through the second half of this completely. But i wrote it well, its a credit to my writing under pressure.  
*********  
  
  
Edea was walking along the head table giving out orders to the groups. "Okay, we go in this order. We know for a fact from our spies that they're arriving by sea, so they have to get up those cliffs... Those cliffs are very VERY tall. Okay. We are going to infiltrate from the inside. We can push them back. Hopefully they wont start a landing if we do this."  
  
"How?" Snape said silkily from the crowd  
  
"We have a portkey system that Mr. Moody has kindly set up for us. We go in this order, the front line will be a mixture of Aurors, diversionary people and Unforgivables."  
  
"Those who are flyers will be at the back with the infirmary people, you'll be keeping look out for the death eaters, and will be reporting back to Dumbledore who i have assigned to leading this front. he will be in a certain locating in the cente of the island. Where it is possible to see everything. The hexers, hand to hand and those flyers out of use will be in the second and third lines. The Charmers will be weaving between the rows, producing defence charms, shields and the such like. You have free range."  
  
The crowd were nodding, some were clapping. "We have two hours before we start the portkey system in action, i want you to regroup in the groups that you are already in, in exactly one hour and a half's time. That is all."  
  
She jumped down, and headed out of the building. Remus, seeing Sirius was busy talking to Harry in hushed tones, followed Edea out of the great hall, he found her sitting on the steps.  
  
"Eds?" He asked siting down next to her.  
  
"This is not a good idea." Edea shook her head, "Which dumbass put me in charge?"  
  
"It was a general vote, all the aurors and ministry officials voted." Remus smiled weakly. "You're going to do this."  
  
"No, you see, thats where i suddenly get stuck. I'm not..."  
  
"You're not what?"  
  
"The war-type." Edea hugged her knees. "I dont do these things."  
  
Remus put an arm round her shoulder. "Edea, you're going to do this fine. You always come out on top."  
  
"I still don't feel right, something's GOING to go wrong." Edea frowned.   
  
"Go see Sirius, talk to him about it. He'll think of something." Remus followed her line of sight off into Hogsmeade. "There wasnt anything you could have done."  
  
"You know who did this, don't you.... Peter." Edea snarled. "He'll be there, licking Voldemort's boots on the front line, you believe me."  
  
Remus sighed, getting up and heading back into the castle, locating Sirius staring out of a window. "Padfoot?" he asked warily  
  
"He wanted to go see the Gryffindor common rooms again, Harry.. that is." Sirius mumbled. "Oh, Moony, i don't want to go back there, i can't face it. Azkaban. I had twelve years there. Its awful, i can still remember it like it was yesterday. I used to sit there, i used to... to think that the day would neve come that i'd be free. and now we're going back again."  
  
Remus almost laughed, "Well, we are all in positive frames of minds today."  
  
"What?" Sirius looked at his friend. "Moony?"  
  
"Our wondrous leader isn't in the most assertive, optimisic attitude either."   
  
"Edea?" Sirius peered out of the window again, "Oh yes, i saw you talking."  
  
"Well?"  
  
"Now's not a good time." Sirius shook his head.   
  
"You may never get another chance. You've waited for over a decade you idiot." Remus rolled his eyes. "You'll never get the timing perfect now, but its the best you can do."  
  
"You think?" Sirius raised an eyebrow. "I'm blaming you if i get killed before we even get to the portkey."  
  
Sirius slid down the banister of the large staircase, earning a few odd looks from people, he headed out to where he'd seen Edea through the window.  
  
"Eddie?"  
  
"yeah?" Edea turned around.  
  
"No backlash?" Sirius rose an inquisitive eyebrow.  
  
"cant be bothered." Edea shrugged. "Havent really got the time."  
  
"Time?" Sirius slumped down on the stair, "You have the rest of your LIFE for time."  
  
"Yeah, is that what you really think?" Edea glared at him, "How many of us do you HONESTLY think will get through this?"  
  
Sirius looked down at his boots, "I'd love to say all of us, but its not possible." He paused, "Wow, you really know how to depress people don't you... i'd forgotten."  
  
"Mr. Compliments, as ever." Edea shot him a look.  
  
"I have a plan." Sirius said. "its a good plan, you're guaranteed to like it."  
  
"Enlighten me." Edea looked at her black nail varnish, which was getting badly chipped, she pointed her wand at her nails and the black colour recoated its chipped bits.  
  
"Well..." Sirius waited till he had her attention. "I was kinda thinking... AND DONT HIT ME... Marry me ..."  
  
Edea raised an eyebrow, then laughed, "You..." She laughed at him. "Have you got a knack for awkward timing?"  
  
"I've had lots of practise." Sirius admitted, "we could like.. do a malfoy... big cathedral style..."  
  
"Uhm. No. No Malfoy stylings, he'd probably sue us for breach of copyright or something."  
  
"So?"  
  
"can i ask you to ask me after this is over?" Edea frowned, "it'd be nicer."  
  
"Sure, you can count on it." Sirius grinned.   
***  
  
  
  
The portkey landings had gone well, the flyers had located the death eater army and had promptly started their attack. The flying scouts, namely anybody who was good at Quidditch had been flying round the island, until Edea changed her attack, they were losing too many on the ground. All flying squads were called in to help with the Charmers and Hexers...  
  
  
Sirius looked left, where Harry should have been standing, he had gone. Spells were shooting in all directions, and the Aurors were at the front of the normal wizards hurling an array of hexes and unforgivables at the death eaters and Lord Voldemort himself. The trees were ablaze in fire and there were many dark marks in the air. New ones were being shot up into the sky at every possible moment.  
  
He could vaguely make out the figure of Edea at the front, shouting orders out to her section of wizards, whilst aiming avada kedavras at death eaters. From Sirius's point, it already looked like a lost cause. Then, he saw a flash of black hair. He saw Harry running, towards what, Sirius could not see, but he was running all the same. Before Sirius could shout out, Remus was down. Hit straight on. Sirius paled, trying to counter the choking curse that had hit his friend.  
  
Dumbledore looked with tired eyes upon the scene, they'd lost some of the best wizards that had ever graced the earth already in the past few minutes. Momentarily, he let his gaze wander, he recognised many of the Death Eaters, and in the crowd of Dark Supporters were many Slytherins still attending Hogwarts. He had never seen them look so terrified before. One figure in particular attracted his attention. A shock of blonde hair was aiming his quivering wand hand at the opposing side. Draco Malfoy. It may have been a trick of the light, but Dumbledore could have sworn the Malfoy child had looked up at him and mouthed the word "sorry" before walking out into the line of fire. He got hit almost instantly by a stray Avada Kadavra.   
  
Edea had pulled back into the last few ranks, and was busy asking people who was fit and who was down, how many they'd lost. Then she noticed Sirius looking round wildly.   
  
"Sirius?" She ran over to him,  
  
"H.. Harry.." He panted. "He's dis..appeared."  
  
Then a sudden shout alerted his attention, the shout had come from Moody, Harry was running, it was a miracle he hadn't been hit yet, and was running straight at Lord Voldemort.  
  
Sirius turned to Edea, they stared at each other for what seemed like a lifetime. Then suddenly, Edea turned and ran towards the front line.  
  
Sirius looked over to the front, and could have screamed out in terror. Voldemort had Harry. The deathly grin on the Dark Lord's face said everything, then there was a slight murmur in the ranks, a black stream of colour was flying out through the no-mans land heading straight towards Voldemort.  
  
"Edea." Sirius mumbled. "Don't do the heroics... please..." He watched in horror, frozen to the spot as Edea hurtled towards the enemy, jumping over, and ducking curses aimed at her, she pushed Lucius Malfoy aside and stretched out. She tackled Voldemort, who had to let go of Harry to keep his balance. The fighting had ceased between the sides, the Death Eaters parted as Edea kept running, dragging Voldemort with her... she kept running and running until she jumped...  
  
The silence was broken by two voices, Harry and Sirius together were screaming, and from Sirius' viewpoint, it took such a long time for Edea and Voldemort to tumble of the edge. It was like some evil twist of fate had decided to play this in slow motion, just to spite him.   
  
  
Lucius Malfoy and Harry were really the only ones who saw what happened after that, Harry ran towards the edge of the cliff, and stared downwards he could see them falling towards the sharp rocks and the sea. He saw Edea hit the cliff-face, her body still falling. He saw Voldemort try to grab at someting, anything that would stop the fast approaching rocks from claiming him.  
Edea hit the rocks first. A loud thud seemed to echo through Harry's head, Voldemort hit second, the waves lapping at his pale form.  
  
By this time both Sirius and Remus had reached the cliff-face, most of the death eaters had disapparated the moment Voldemort had fallen, the others had given themselves up.  
Sirius, looked down, the blood from his forehead mixing with the tears that were streaming down his face. His face crumpled as he fell to his knees on the cliff-top.  
***  
  
  
  
The remaining members of the Order of the Phoenix had gone down to the bay as soon as the tide had gone out. Dumbledore had gone down first, telling the others that Voldemort was indeed dead. His mangled body had not this time, disappeared, but lay on the rocks as a reminder of what evil could do if let loose.  
  
Remus and Sirius supported each other as Dumbledore picked his way across the rocks to the lifeless form of Edea DuCruet. Harry stood between a sniffing Hermione and a battered Ron.  
He'd never seen anybody die in such way, and all he could see in his mind was her face as she hurtled towards Voldemort. Such anger he'd never seen before, it was a pure hatred, and it had been the end of her.  
  
  
  
  
TBC- see its not finished yet. aha! you lose! 


	5. A diebus Fatalibus

Blackened Days- 5  
if you want to destroy my sweeeateeeeeeeeer! (believe me, thats coming in the sequel, whic i'm going to call something like what i just said.. namely "if you want to destroy my sweater!")  
  
hmm.. very unbelievable so far isn't it... hehehe, i got a very odd look from hols this morning when i told her about BD4, so i'm er.. putting right the certain "mistake" at the end.  
DONT flame me for that last bit with draco, i like him too... in fact i think he's cute, but i needed someone and having crabbe or goyle do that just doesnt have the same effect ya know!  
*****  
  
Sirius sat down on the sand. Totally unaware of his surroundings or the commotion that was gong on. He could see it now, years ago they'd been laughing on what each of them was going to put on their gravestones. According to Remus, James had had his inscribed on his tombstone, "Of midnight wanderings and stag horns." Now he was going to have to see Edea's as well. "She caused chaos."  
He remebered that. He'd laughed at the time, and now.. well it seemed pretty fitting.  
  
"You know..." Came a soft voice from beside him.. "It doesnt have to be this way."  
  
Sirius turned his head to see a grey form of Edea sitting beside him, hugging her knees.  
  
"Edea?" He asked in a squeakey voice, he reached out but his hand went straight through. "What... you're a ghost?"  
  
"Ghost?" Edea rose her eyebrows, "Noone else can see me, i'm not a ghost. I'm not dead yet."  
  
"But... look." He pointed at her body. "Dead, no life."  
  
"These colours flowing through my head, what once was black is red instead." Edea murmured.  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"These colours flowing through my head, what once was black is red instead." Edea said clearly again. "It's a riddle."  
  
"A riddle?" Sirius put two and two together, "To bring you back?"  
  
"Correct."  
  
"Run it past me again..."  
  
"These colours flowing through my head, what once was black is red instead." Edea said once more, then she disappeared.   
  
"oh well... that's just... marvellous."  
  
"Sirius? Are you talking to yourself?" A very concerned Professor McGonagall asked  
  
"These colours flowing through my head, what once was black is red instead." Sirius muttered. "What does it mean? She told me... it'll bring her back."   
  
McGonagall looked down at his crouching form with slight pity. "It wont help, they're taking her back to the ministry."  
  
"WHAT?" He jumped up, looking round to where there were red stains on the rocks. "What once was black is red instead.... oh sh*t..."  
  
Sirius spun round trying to find out where they'd taken her... then he saw... Dumbledore had conjured a stretcher and was taking her back up the steep clifface steps. He started running after Dumbledore, but was held back by Harry and Hermione, who thought he'd gone delinquent.  
  
"Padfoot!" Remus grabbed his arm, pulling him back. "You can't... she's gone."  
  
"These colours flowing through my head, what once was black is red instead." Sirius yelled at him.  
  
"Uh, Sirius?" Hermione looked up, "Are you okay? Did you get hit with a curse?"  
  
"No i Did NOT GET HIT WITH A CURSE. LEAVE ME ALONE!" he shouted, breaking free and bounding up the steps, the others just looked at each other. They understood now how delirious he must have been after James and Lily had been betrayed.  
  
"I wonder..." Remus sighed, "If he tries to kill someone again... oh dear."  
****  
  
  
  
  
  
"Headmaster... Pro...Professor Dumbledore..." Sirius panted, hands on his knees trying to regain his breath... "Wait."  
  
"Sirius... i know that you..."  
  
"You dont understan... Eddie, she... she told me something... brings her back."  
  
"Sirius?" Dumbledore put a hand on the younger man's shoulder... "I'm not doing any Diebus Fatalibus Deus Ex, alright? It is against wizarding laws and Voldemort himself used it frequently, you should know that..."  
  
"no." Sirius stood up straight, "Cryptic as she always was, she gave me a riddle."  
  
Dumbledore suddenly looked like something had clicked. "Go on. Tell it to me."  
  
"These colours flowing through my head, what once was black is red instead." He said for what must have been the millionth time in the past five minutes.  
  
"Extraordinary... and when did she tell you this?"  
  
"Just now.. i mean, on the beach..."  
  
"Oh." Dumbledore said quietly.. "Wait a moment." He called over one of the ministry members and soon enough they had a free cell in Azkaban to themselves, Edea was still in her stretcher which was now on the hard stone "bed".  
  
"Do you know what it is?" Sirius asked eagerly, trying not to look at Edea.  
  
"I have an idea." Dumbledore held out Edea's wrist, the writing that was normally black or non-existent was red, crimson red.  
  
"And?"  
  
"I'm not sure. If my assumptions are correct, we have about half an hour left, as soon as it turns yellow she's gone and you can't GET her back."  
  
"So what do i do?" Sirius was practically fidgiting now. "I don't like it here..."  
  
"Where's your wand?"  
  
Sirius pulled his wand out from the brim of his hat. "Here."  
  
Dumbledore took his wand and ran it across her neck, her eyes flew open, but were glowing white, they were too bright to look at...  
  
"Confiteor quia peccavi nimis." She said in a voice that seemed to be made of many many tiny little voices strung together.   
  
"What the hell?" Sirius asked, shielding his eyes.  
  
"She's given you the clue to the Deus Ex." Dumbledore sighed, "If we get interrupted, she'll be a walking zombie."  
  
"I thought you weren't doin the Deus Ex?"  
  
"I er... changed my mind." Dumbledore moved back as her mouth opened and thousands of tiny snakes started streaming out.  
  
Edea kept going when the snakes stopped. "In principio creavit Deus caelum et terram, et aurum terrae illius optimum est ibique invenitur bdellium et lapis onychinus."  
  
"What the hell?" Sirius was getting seriously freaked out now.  
  
"She's doing the Deus Ex, its bits of scripture jumbled together in a very hotchpotch way."  
  
"Musa, mihi causas memora, quo numine laeso, quidve dolens, regina deum tot volvere casus  
insignem pietate virum, tot adire labores impulerit." Edea's eyes were fading, then she convulsively clutched the tattoo on her hand as it burned bright white and turned black.  
  
"Edea?"  
  
"A Diebus fatalibus." Edea said finally, before choking up blood.  
  
"The day has died." Dumbledore nodded, "Very nicely read, Miss DuCruet."  
  
Sirius was hitting her back as she was sitting up still coughing. "Not.... F.. funny." She said between coughs.   
  
"Youuu!" Siruis grabbed her in a hug.   
  
Edea winced, "Ow.."  
  
Dumbledore smiled weakly, "CAn you stand?"  
  
"If this idiot lets me try we'll... ow." Edea slipped to the floor, "Does that answer your question?"  
  
Sirius and Dumbledoreb each grabbed an arm and guided her out of the door.  
  
"Oh. My. God." Ron's jaw hit the floor as he saw who Sirius was helping drag outside, "Is taht just me or..."  
  
Harry had run up to his Godfather. "Sirius... Ed... Eddie?"  
  
"Oh don't you start calling me Eddie, i've had enough of it from this raving lunatic here." Edea grumbled as Harry grinned. Hermione was hopping from foot to foot. "Oh no, i really dont want this right now, can i go home now?"  
  
"We don't HAVE a home." Sirius laughed. "Destroyed remember?"  
  
"Damn, they torched the car."  
  
"You know what?" Sirius said, "I'm glad i've got the old you back. Car-obsessed, hex hurling maniac."  
  
"You sure that's Hex?" Remus added a sideways comment to his friend. "having trouble with your pronounciation?"  
  
"Are you accusing my girl of being a nymphomaniac?" Sirius asked forcefully, a bit too forcefully as it caught everyone's attention.  
  
"Great." Edea rolled her eyes. "No, i am NOT a nympho. Moony, what did you say THAT for?"  
  
"Payback,"  
  
"For WHAT?" Edea screeched.  
  
"Sixth year ball. Your little comment about me and Anna..."  
  
"OOoooh." Edea's eyes widened. "I remember that. That was funny."  
  
"You've gotta admit." Sirius nodded, "It was one of the funnier pranks she's pulled on you."  
  
"I didn't find it amusing." Remus frowned.  
  
"What did she do?" Harry asked.  
  
"Something she WILL NOT REPEAT." Remus clamped a hand over Edea's mouth.  
  
"Oh, come ON." Sirius laughed. "You got her back."  
  
"But she LIKED my retaliation." Remus said exasperatedly, "She had that pink hair till the roots grew out."  
  
"I thought it was really my style." Edea shrugged. "Plus it really made me stand out when we played Quidditch in the rain and fog."  
  
"I like it black." Sirius fingered a strand of her hair. "It's like mine."  
  
"No." Edea pulled her hair away, "Mine's nicer than yours. I take CARE of it."  
  
"OOoooh, just jealous cuz i have more of it than you." Sirius mockingly pouted.  
  
Hary watched them, for a moment he could almost see them as kids at Hogwarts constantly bickering, he wondered what his father thought of these two... Harry shruged, knowing he'd never find out...  
  
  
  
ENDY! the endy! Fear not, i'm carying on straight after this with "If you want to destroy my sweater..." Odd name, i know but it WILL have a meaning at some point.... i'll also explain what happened to peter that day. 


End file.
